Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126974
Dreyer Racing's Scott Zampach (5 9 3); Dreyer f inished third t o become the fi rst team th is year to put a 600cc motorcycle int o t he top t h ree . Human Race Team's 'Ben Martinez (2 ) helped teammates Andy Fenwick and Kurt Hall power their Yamaha int o second place. WERA EBC Brakes/National Endurance Series: Round 7 Team Suzuki dominates Grattan Six-Hour By Larry Lawrence GRATTAN, MI, JULY 4 Mike Harth and Thomas Stevens rode the Team Suzuki GSXRIIOO to victory at Grattan Raceway giving the team its fourth straight win and fifth victory in seven starts. 22 T eamSuzuki gradually pulled "away from th e competition he si h th.rou.gh out t e SlX- our eve~t. wmmng by a two-lap margm over H u m an Race Team's Kurt Hall, Andy Fen~ick .a':ld Ben . Martinez. " Dre~er R~ang finished thlr~ overall and m doing so became the first team to put a 600cc m ach in e into the top three at a WERA National Enduranee event this year. Gene Bu rcham , SCOll Zampach and G ary J effries handled the riding on the Dreyer Ra cing Honda Hurricane 600. Grattan Ra ceway has presented National e n d u ra n ce teams with unusual conditions in the past and top teams usually have not fared well here. Two years ago a steady drizz le and 40° temperatures proved lOO much for the top teams of 1985 and a local team , K&L Racin g , won the event, Last year the track was completely repaved a few days before the event, causing extremely slick conditions. Again most of the top teams fell to the wayside, and Horn Bro thers .Racing won their only National endurance race. Sections of the track were repaved just three days before this year's event, and while the surface was not quite as treacherous as last year's (all but six teams crashed in the 1986 event), the teams st ill used extreme caution when p assin g in midturn. " T h ere 's basically one line out there, " said Suzuki's Mike Harth. "The race line is fine but if you get a little wide on a corner you 're playing with fire," continued Harth. H arth was the man who took the early lead in the 65-bike field. Harth kept Team Suzu ki out front for eight laps before Boonie Knott took over on th e Team Stipp Farms Suzuki GSXR750. Behind Stipp Farms and Suzuki a third place battle raged between Genesis Racing's Tony DeSimone, Team Racerback's B.B . . Montemayor and Human R a ce Team's Hall. As the first hour progressed, Knott extended his lead, H arth remained a strong second and Texan Montemayor had the Team Ra cerb ack Kawasaki Ninja 750 in third. At the end of the first hour the top four teams were all on lap 38 and the next seven teams on lap 37. Leader Knott averaged a quick 76 mph in the first hour on the twisty, up and down, two-mile course. Early retirees from competition included Team Tapscott (crash) and series regular Intrepid Racin g w ho had th eir day en d early in a bizzare incident. Fra n k Stein hausen h ad the Intrep id Yamaha FZR IOOO well into the lead pack, whe n the right foot peg assembly fell off and went under the Yamaha 's rear tire causing it to crash on la p 19. Early in the second hour Team Suz uki regained the lead when Kn ou pi ued for gas a nd ri der change. Team Stip p Farms' bid to win the race came